


From My Heart It Flows

by Quarra



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Angst, Angst and crack is apparently just how I roll, Because Adrian deserves better, Blood, Crack, Cuddling & Snuggling, Depression, Dracula is a helper, Dracula is trying to be a good dad, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feels, Fix-It, Ghosts, Heavy on both the hurt and the comfort, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Post Season 2 Fix-It, Self-Harm, discussion of suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:21:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21975004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quarra/pseuds/Quarra
Summary: Death is never the end, especially for a being as powerful as Vlad Ţepeş. But with death came clarity, as well as the presence of his beloved Lisa. At her urging, Vlad reluctantly returned to his castle to help his son recover from his ordeal.But Adrian was in far worse shape than Vlad could have anticipated, and Adrian's two humans were no where in sight. Vlad decides that this isunacceptable. But what can a ghost do?Plenty, it turns out.
Relationships: Adrian Tepes/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades, Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades, Dracula/Lisa (Castlevania)
Comments: 41
Kudos: 617





	From My Heart It Flows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RemingtonFae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RemingtonFae/gifts), [dsudis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsudis/gifts), [xantissa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xantissa/gifts).



> HAPPY HOLIDAYS my friends! This fic is for Remi, Dira, and Xantissa (sorry xan, no porn in this one. I'll try to work it in on the sequel, lol). Thank you for all your patience, your care, and your ability to listen to me blather about crazy ideas and then enable me to write about them.

There was pain. So much pain that Vlad Ţepeş couldn’t perceive anything but. His body rotted in an instant and his spirit expanded out, flooding through every nook and cranny of his ancient castle and then rising up into the air. 

Then he was _free_.

All the rage and bitter, poisonous grief that had tainted every aspect of his life for the last year was suddenly purged from his soul as his essence crossed the barrier between worlds. He felt the guiding hand of Death, one of his most loyal servants, urging him towards his ever after.

 _Lisa_.

As if the thought itself summoned her, there she was. Her body glowed and white whisps of radiant energy flowed off of her. Her sun-gold hair drifted in a breeze that Vlad couldn’t feel and didn’t even notice was missing. All of his focus was on the fact that she was _there_.

“My love,” Vlad whispered, his voice a raspy, broken static charge on the wind.

“My love,” Lisa repeated back to him. She had that smile on. That tiny, smug, delighted smile that she always seemed to reserve just for him.

Vlad opened his mouth, but his words were trapped inside of him. Aching and longing and a thousand other things that he didn’t have a name for welled up within.

“Oh dearest, I know. I know.” Lisa’s spirit embraced his and if Vlad had had a body to cry then he would have wept. She was warm and wonderful in his arms and he had _missed her so much_. 

“I know,” she whispered again.

How long they embraced, Vlad had no notion. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were together. Finally. 

Slowly, other sensations began to leak into his awareness. He could sense the spiritual plane around them, chaotic and dark, and far off in the distance, right at the edge of his awareness was Death. Guarding them, Vlad realized with a flash.

“We are not in the afterlife,” Vlad said with surprise.

“No.” Lisa shook her head, but her voice was fond. “I left my rest to come see you.”

Vlad thought of his very long, very bloody life. Especially the last year. He’d killed so many. As a vampire, Vlad had never held humanity in high regard, but his agony at losing his wife had crushed any goodwill he once had and turned it into suicidal malevolence. He would have killed all the world in his anger.

But Adrian stopped him.

“Oh. Oh my boy,” Vlad whispered. He’d suddenly remembered his death. How it had finally dawned on him that he was hurting his _son_. His precious Adrian. Vlad had known, deep in his heart, that he couldn’t stop, wouldn’t have been able to become a whole person again, not for anyone.

He’d let Adrian kill him.

Oh, his poor son.

“Yes,” Lisa said solemnly. 

“I’m so sorry.” Those words seemed so paltry, so pathetic in light of the damage he’d done to his wonderful little boy, to the death he’d almost delivered. 

“My love.” Lisa squeezed him. It wasn’t absolution, but it was understanding. She still loved him, despite the horrors he’d committed. 

“Is this why we are not in an afterlife?” Vlad asked quietly. He clung tighter to his wife, for fear that she would slip away, back to heaven without him.

“...Yes and no.” 

Lisa looked up at him. Her blue eyes shone like jewels and her face was as beautiful as if it were made of the rarest materials. Burnished gold, polished platinum, carved ivory. None of them held a candle to her pale skin and perfect mouth. 

“Because of what you were, and how powerful you were, your spirit has… _options_ that would not be afforded to a regular human,” Lisa said. “You can come with me. We can forge our own afterlife, tailored to our whims. We can be together and happy.”

“Or…?” Vlad wasn’t sure he wanted to hear his other options.

“Or you can help our son.” Lisa’s eyes turned pleading. “Adrian is in such pain, my love. He is alone and his heart aches from everything he’s gone through and everything he was forced to do.” Now her look turned sharp. Ahhh, how Vlad loved her. “Not to mention the mess you made of Wallachia.”

“You hold me to a standard no one else would dare to,” Vlad said fondly.

“It is only what you _can_ be, nothing more,” she said with a sniff. 

“Adrian and his little human friends killed me. Very thoroughly, I might add.” Vlad was perversely proud of this. “What could I do now?”

“Your spirit is strong, even in death, and your castle is the seat of your power. Every stone, every gear, is tuned to your essence. You could very easily manifest there as a spirit.”

“You want me to be a ghost? To _haunt my own damn castle?!_ ” The idea both repulsed him and galled him. Him! The great Dracula, reduced to a damn poltergeist! 

The look Lisa gave him was eloquent. “You would be able to talk to our son. Guide him. Offer him your advice and support, as you once did. You have enough power and control of your possessions and servants that you can help protect him, if need be, and you can make his appointed task easier.”

Damn. She was right. As usual. 

“How I missed you,” Vlad rumbled. He buried his nose into her hair and inhaled. In their spirit forms there was no scent attached, but the _memory_ of her scent flooded into him.

Vlad stayed there for a moment, just holding her close. Lisa waited him out, clearly sure that she’d already won. 

“After---” he started.

“Afterwards you would come to me,” Lisa confirmed. “I will be waiting for you, always.”

Vlad took a breath. Or the memory of a breath. 

He hated humanity _so much_. 

But he loved his wife and his son more. 

“I will do this,” Vlad promised. “I will help our son, and then I will return to you.”

The smile she leveled at him was devastating. More powerful than any bomb and brighter than the sun. 

His perfect Lisa.

\--

The castle was a goddamn mess.

Granted, Vlad didn’t really expect anything else, but the sheer level of destruction was somewhat awe inspiring. 

He wasn’t truly sure how long he’d been gone. From the dust gathered, it had been a while since the castle settled here. Some fixtures had been repaired, many had not. It was a big place, and Vlad’s final battle had leveled much damage on it. 

The halls were empty and quiet. It was very strange. Vlad moved through walls, searching for the sound of a single heartbeat in the ruin.

Adrian.

 _Oh._

Lisa had been right. Their boy was suffering still.

He was dirty and disheveled. His long, pale gold hair was dark with grime and tangled into thick mats. His clothes were just as bad. What was more distressing was the dark brown-black stains of dried blood that spattered his filthy shirt. Holes littered both his leather pants and his sleeves.

Adrian had been wounded. He moved slowly, as if his bones ached, but Vlad could see no sign of injury. Something he’d healed, then.

Curiosity drove Vlad to keep himself invisible. Something was going on with his son, and experience told him that he might get more answers if he waited and watched. 

Adrian didn’t seem to notice him.

Or, at least, Adrian didn’t seem to notice _his actual presence_. More than once, he would pause and stare off into the distance, his eyes tracking things that weren’t there. 

He appeared to be slowly picking up the debris in one of the libraries. Vlad had a brief memory of his and Adrian’s fight blowing through that space, punching holes in the walls and leaving mass destruction in their wake. 

“Where are your human friends, Adrian,” Vlad wondered. They should be here, helping.

“Father?” Adrian’s spine stiffened and he looked around the vast empty room with wide eyes.

Vlad waited, silent. Now wasn’t the time. 

Two, fat tears slipped down Adrian’s cheeks, leaving trails in the grime on his face. He closed his eyes and shook his head. 

“Get it together, Alucard,” Adrian whispered. Oh, how Vlad despised that name. He’d thought that Adrian didn’t like it either. Perhaps he was wrong. “There is no one in this fucking castle but you, and there never fucking will be.”

 _Hmmmmmm_. 

Vlad didn’t like the hopelessness in that declaration. The awful loneliness was a palpable thing. He’d felt that despair himself when Lisa had been murdered. It was offensive to hear the same in Adrian. 

Where were those humans?!

Vlad would find them, and then he would convince them to come back and tend to his son. 

Or else.

\--

In some ways, traveling outside of his castle was significantly more difficult than Vlad expected. In other ways it was much easier. 

All he needed to do to be at any given place was will himself there. Not unlike how he ordered the castle to move when he was alive, actually. But the amount of power available to him was significantly less. His actions would be limited outside of the castle.

So it was without much difficulty that he found the Belmont and his robed sorceress. He’d recognize their scent, their energy, anywhere. They had a wagon filled with supplies and were traveling around in the wilds to the far west of the castle.

The problem became, what to do now that he’d found them.

He gathered up his energy and tried to give his form shape and substance.

“What’s that smell?” The sorceress wrinkled her nose as she poked their camp fire. “It’s like blood and dust.”

“Hey, I bathed the last time we were in a town!” Belmont said in mock offense. He was busy turning some beastie on a spit over the fire. 

Vlad did not believe him about the bath. The man was rank. It was obvious even to a ghost.

“Next time, I will hire someone to hold you down and scrub you,” the sorceress muttered. There was a teasing smile on her face, though.

“Humans.” Vlad stepped forward, looming over their fire. “My son is in need of you. You must return at once.”

“I swear to god there is a smell!” The sorceress craned her neck around and sniffed. “And did you hear that? It was almost like a moaning…”

“Sypha, you are imagining things.” Belmont rolled his eyes. 

Damn. 

That...

Didn’t seem to work. 

How annoying. Especially since Adrian heard him just fine. 

Time for a different plan of attack. They couldn’t hear him and they couldn’t see him. But his energy could affect a great number of things. 

“Oh, am I?” the sorceress, Sypha, arched a graceful eyebrow at Belmont. Her short hair looked like a mop of fire on her head in the glow of their camp, and the effect was only compounded by the blue of her Speaker robes. She looked positively saintly in comparison to the slovenly Belmont. 

Hunters. How Vlad despised them. 

“Why don’t you imagine _this_!” Sypha pounced on the hunter, rolling him over easily and tickling him without mercy.

“No! No! Stop, stoppp!” Belmont howled with laughter as they rolled around in the dirt. His brown leathers and armor just got that much dirtier, and bits of leaves stuck in his hair. Somehow, Sypha managed to avoid the worst of this. Likely because she was keeping herself above him.

Belmont seemed to allow this. 

“Who’s moaning now? Huh? Huhhhh?” Sypha taunted, cackling evilly. 

“Mercy! Mercy!” The hunter cried out, laughing until tears fell down his cheeks. 

Vlad was reminded of his son’s tear tracks. How similar they looked, and how different the causes.

His patience grew short.

Sypha ended her torture with a kiss.

Ah. That was why they were so happy. They were in love.

If anything, this only infuriated Vlad more. After saving humanity from mass genocide, these two humans got this life, this laughter and togetherness and peace, and Adrian, sweet, good, _wonderful_ Adrian, who gave up _everything_ for humans, got an empty, broken castle and aching sadness.

Unacceptable. 

“I do curse you,” Vlad whispered into the fabric of reality, letting his energy sweep out around the two entwined on the ground. “Every where you go, every direction you lead, be it away from my son and you will _suffer_.”

Dark power sunk into their auras and through every possession that they had.

“I wish Alucard was here,” Sypha said softly, breaking away from the kiss.

Vlad started in surprise. 

“Me, too, Sypha,” Belmont whispered. 

The curse had already gone into effect, but...perhaps he’d been too hasty.

“Do you think it was a good idea that we left him?” Sypha asked, her head pillowed on Belmont’s chest. 

“I don’t know. It...it seemed right at the time.” Belmont shook his head. “Alucard is fine. He’s strong, so much stronger than anyone else I’ve ever met. He wants to save something of his father’s legacy, and the castle is where he can do that. And _someone_ needs to guard it.”

But there was a wistfulness, a longing that echoed the sadness that Vlad had felt from Adrian. 

Curious. 

Well. All the more reason for Vlad to nudge these two back towards his son. Adrian deserved better. Surely Lisa would agree.

With the curse in place, soon enough the humans would be herded back to where they were needed most.

His work done, Vlad traveled back to the castle. It was time to talk to Adrian. Maybe get the boy to brush his hair.

\--

When he returned to the castle, it was deep in the night and Adrian had retired to Vlad’s own private study. 

The room was still a mess. The remnants of his shattered magic mirror were swept into a pile on the floor and books were still scattered haphazardly around. 

Adrian sat sprawled in Vlad’s chair, staring at an empty fireplace. He had a bottle of blood in one hand; Vlad recognized it as one of the preserved vessels of pig’s blood that Vlad had stockpiled for his generals. 

In his other hand he had a bloody knife. 

Vlad watched in horror as Adrian casually stabbed himself in the thigh. Not deep enough to do life threatening damage, but deep enough that blood flowed down his leg and dripped onto the floor. 

_So this is where the holes came from_. That thought was a distant thing beyond the shock of what he was seeing.

Adrian barely even flinched at the pain. Tears poured down his face as he stared into nothing. He pulled the blade out and took a deep drink of the pig’s blood. The wound in his leg healed near instantly with the fresh influx of energy from the feeding. 

Then he stabbed himself again.

Oh _hell_. 

“Adrian.” Vlad finally found his voice. “My boy, please stop.”

“Father?” Adrian blinked up at him, as if he was drunk. Probably whiplash from the constant injury and feeding. This couldn’t have been the first time he did this. Not by a long shot. “You’re dead. I killed you.” His voice broke on the last few words and his face crumpled.

“My son.” Vlad rushed to Adrian’s side and wrapped him in as much of an embrace as he could muster. “Please, stop. You don’t need to do this.”

“It’s the only way I can feel anything,” Adrian said miserably. 

Vlad highly doubted it. No, it seemed more likely that Adrian felt too much and this was the way he’d found to express it.

But that might not be helpful to say.

“I am here, Adrian. To help you. You are not alone in your grief.” Vlad was suddenly struck with the realization that he was repeating almost the same words that Adrian had said to him after Lisa had been murdered. 

Ah, fate. It was justice, then, to have Vlad here saying the same thing. Hopefully his son would listen better than he had.

“I am, though,” Adrian whispered. He slumped further down into Vlad’s chair. “Mother is gone, you’re dead by my hand, killed in _my fucking bedroom_ , Sypha and Trevor are gone. This place is now my life.” He swallowed and his voice grew hard and bitter. “My duty.”

“Life is more than duty. Let me help you, my son.” Vlad pulled energy from his castle to solidify himself further, enough so that he was as solid as he could be. 

“Oh god, you’re here,” Adrian cried brokenly. The bottle and the knife fell from his hands and he crushed Vlad’s body to him in a hug. “You’re here. Father, I missed you so much. I’m so sorry!”

Vlad cradled his treasure, his beloved son. “You did what you had to. What your mother would have wanted and what I needed you to do. None of this is your fault, Adrian. It is mine. Let me help you fix it.”

“Father.” Adrian wept in Vlad’s arms, shaking with every drawn breath.

“I’m here. As much as I can be.”

They stayed together for some indeterminate amount of time. It really was difficult for Vlad to gauge such things now. He pushed that thought aside and focused on his son. However long it took, he could stay here and help. 

“How,” Adrian eventually asked, leaning back to get a look at Vlad’s face.

“Your mother,” Vlad responded. That was the key factor. The details were unimportant.

Adrian’s jaw dropped. A broken half-smile spread over his face. Then he was laughing, slowly at first and soon in an uncontrolled, body shaking, cackle.

“Mother kicked you out of heaven!” Adrian guffawed. 

“Generous of you to think I would go to heaven, but in essence correct,” Vlad muttered with a small smile. He would take this mockery with pleasure for the joy it brought his son.

“Oh _god_.” Adrian wiped his face, still shaking with mirth. “Mother would.”

\---

Adrian was dreaming.

He had to be. 

His father was here. Not Dracula, not the blood crazed monster who’d tried to destroy the world with his anguish. No, this was Vlad. The kind, quiet, wonderful father who’d cared for Adrian for most of his life. The man who taught him magic, taught him restraint. His teacher for sword work and shape shifting and science. 

This was his _father_.

Or at least some aspect of him. 

Vlad’s body was shadowy and only barely substantial. His hands were darkened claws and his cloak spread around him like a blanket that wanted to eat up the surrounding room. His long, black hair blended right into the fabric of his clothes and his eyes were pools of dark red in the shadows of his face. 

It should have been frightening. 

Adrian hadn’t felt this safe in years. 

When their embrace ended, Vlad’s body fell further into shadow, turning partially transparent.

A ghost. His father was a fucking ghost.

Adrian wondered if he had accidentally killed himself. 

“When was the last time you bathed?” Vlad asked.

Adrian stared at him.

Vlad raised one sharp eyebrow.

“Uh.” Adrian was suddenly forcibly reminded that he’d looked better after his year-long healing slumber under Gresit than he did now. Granted, he’d been spending months trying to clean the castle, alone, but still.

“Too long then.” Vlad stood up. Or just...elongated. It was hard to tell. “Bath time. Now. You will feel better once you are clean.”

“Father, you don’t need to---”

“Adrian.” There was steel in Vlad’s voice. Adrian almost started crying again at the sound of it. Perhaps that showed on his face, because Vlad’s voice softened. “There is no shame in asking for help. Your mother told me that often enough.”

“Yes, father,” Adrian said, feeling dazed. 

Maybe that was just the blood loss.

Before he knew it, he was in one of the bathing rooms. Not the one near his childhood bedroom, he noticed, but the large one near the guest suites. 

The fixtures all turned themselves on and towels floated into the room, carried by deep pools of pure dark energy.

The water was hot. And _and wonderful_.

Probably not a dream, then.

Adrian still couldn’t really believe it. 

“Do you have to watch while I’m getting clean?” Adrian asked, part way through the scrubbing. He’d started slow, but then as the heat soaked into his tired body and the steam cleared out his head, he’d picked up speed. 

“You seem to have forgotten what a washcloth looked like, so I thought it prudent.” Even with the shadows covering most of his body and dimming his face, Vlad looked incredibly unimpressed. And worried.

Adrian’s face burned in a way that had nothing to do with the hot water.

“There was no point,” Adrian mumbled.

“Pardon?” 

“There was no point to staying clean. At first, it was just too much. All the bodies and the blood, the dust and the rubble. Two seconds after I was clean, I would be saturated with filth.” Adrian scrubbed his arms and tried not to dwell on the faint scars lining…well, everything.

“And then later?” Vlad prompted.

“Later I just didn’t care enough to bother,” Adrian said, feeling tired all of a sudden.

“Hmmm.” The sound rumbled softly through the stones of the castle. It was soothing in a way. Any sign of inhabitance was a blessing. “How long as it been? Since your humans left you?”

“ _My_ humans?” Adrian barked out a laugh. “Oh, to see Trevor’s face with that title.” He shook his head. “Many months. Maybe as much as two years? I don’t really remember.”

“A long time to be alone,” Vlad said quietly.

“Not for you.”

“I am, was, a vampire. Ancient already when your mother knocked on my door. For all that you are of my line, you are still young. Two years is a drop in the ocean of my life, but a significant portion of yours.”

That was true. Adrian sighed. He was just so tired. 

“Come. Out of the bath and into bed. It’s time you slept. We’ll deal with your hair in the morning.” Vlad stood and waved for Adrian to follow him up.

“I have work to do,” Adrian said stubbornly.

“And you will do it better once you are rested,” Vlad said with perfect logic.

“I thought one of the benefits of killing your own parents was that they couldn’t tell you when to go to bed,” Adrian grumbled pissily. Then he realized what he said and his jaw dropped in horror. “Father, no I didn’t---”

But Vlad was laughing, silent at first and then a roaring cackle that seemed to fill the halls and make the glowing crystal lights dance on the walls.

After a moment, Adrian joined in on the laughter, too. It made his face hurt, but it felt good too.

\---

Adrian had stumbled into one of the guest rooms, and for the first time in years his father tucked him in under the covers. He was asleep before he could take more than two breaths.

When Adrian woke up that morning, it was to the sight of Vlad’s shadow form resting in a chair near his bed. 

“Why do I still feel like shit,” Adrian bitched as he rubbed his eyes.

“Because you have been without rest for too long,” Vlad answered reasonably.

“I am a dhampir. How much rest do I need?” Adrian forced himself up out of the soft, wonderful bed, and began to rummage through a spare clothes chest. There should be simple fair here, enough to clothe himself at least. 

“Strong emotions take their toll on a body as much as labor does, that is true for vampires as it is for humans. Which, by the way, you have been cleaning this mess up in the most difficult way possible.”

As much as Adrian loved his father, there were times he wanted to punch him in the face. 

He sighed. “Speak plainly.”

“You are now lord and master of my castle. Your castle.” Vlad waved a darkened arm to the door, and by virtue of that, the castle beyond it. “It will answer your call, by blood and bone and power. You need only to find the controls and command it to right itself.”

“Motherfucker,” Adrian swore under his breath. That was all he had to do?!

“Mmmm, yes.” Vlad smirked.

“Wha-? Oh. _Oh_! Father, no! No, why? Why would you make that joke?” Adrian’s face twisted in disgust. His parents doing _anything_ intimate was the _last_ thing that Adrian wanted to think about. Ever.

Especially considering the last time he saw his mother was when she was being burned alive, and the last time he saw his father, he had been staked, decapitated, and was burning into the floor. 

All the joy left Adrian in a rush and he covered his face with his hands.

“Don’t worry, son. There are things that you will still need to do by hand, and soon enough you will have help.”

Adrian froze.

“Help,” he said flatly. 

Vlad just smiled in what he probably thought was an encouraging manner. 

It was not encouraging at all. Not even a little.

\--

“I hate this country!” Belmont howled, kicking his broken wagon wheel.

 _Trevor_. That’s what Adrian had called him.

Vlad watched with disappointment. It had been weeks since he cast his curse. The humans should have bloody well been back to the castle by now. 

It turned out that they were _infuriatingly_ contrary little creatures, because instead of following the path of least resistance and allowing themselves to be herded back to where Vlad wanted them to go, they’d noticed that luck turned against them if they rode in a certain direction and then _leaned into it_. 

Vlad had managed to coax Adrian into nearly completing the castle renovations as well as reminding him to care for himself in the process, but while he’d been working on that, these foolish idiots were still off wandering in the damn woods! 

Apparently looking for a curse to lift? Vlad wasn’t sure what they thought they were doing.

 _Humans,_ he snarled to himself. _This is why they make terrible pets!_

“There is evil afoot, Trevor. I can feel the dark power all around us,” Sypha said. She glared at the broken wheel, though she refrained from lighting it on fire with her mind. She looked tempted.

“Every game animal runs from us. The beer spoils, the milk curdles, the horses keep losing shoes or kicking rocks or getting colic. The laundry stays wet and the _fucking beer spoils_! Did I mention the beer spoiling?”

“Treffy, there is more to life than beer,” Sypha looked at him dryly. 

“Yeah, there’s sex, too. At least that hasn’t gone south,” he grumbled. He kicked the broken wheel one more time, which only caused the weight to shift and further disable the wagon. 

Sypha snickered and patted his shoulder. “I wish Alucard was here,” she said after a moment.

“Do you think he can fix wagons?” Trevor asked hopefully.

Sypha rolled her eyes. “No, Treffy.” She gently mock-slapped his shoulder. “He’s better at curses than I am. What I do is elemental, mostly. He had a wider education with ritual magic.”

“He’d be able to help with the sex, too,” Trevor muttered.

“TREVOR!” Sypha hit him in the shoulder for real this time, hard enough that Trevor winced.

“What? You’ve thought about it, too!” Trevor rubbed the impact point. 

Sypha’s face was as red as her hair. “We don’t know if that’s something he would even want. He never indicated…”

“We could go find out,” Trevor offered. “Not like we’re making headway on this curse ourselves, anyways. No village we’ve come through looks like its suffered the effects. The phenomenon seems to be localized on us. It’s not even dangerous. Just. Fucking annoying.” He shook his head. “Maybe it’s time for a break. I bet there are some really big beds in that castle.”

Vlad shook his head in disbelief. 

This was why these humans would go back to Adrian. Not because they were trying to avoid the effects of the curse. Not because they even wanted Adrian’s help breaking it. 

But because they wanted to have a threesome. 

Unbelievable.

 _Well_ , Vlad thought, looking over Trevor and Sypha carefully. _At least they are attractive humans._

Sypha was all fire and spirit. She reminded Vlad of Lisa, in a way. She bubbled with life. He’d spied on these two enough that he knew she was quite pretty under all those robes. Not that he’d been specifically trying to find out. It was just difficult to avoid accidentally seeing something when the humans didn’t know he was there. 

Trevor, on the other hand, was powerful and sturdy. Scruffy, perhaps, with unruly brown hair and rough stubble on his jaw, but not unpleasant. He was skilled, too, and that had its own appeal. 

From everything Vlad had seen, Trevor was also an idiot. 

Well. Not everyone could be smart. Adrian could make up for that lack. 

It suddenly struck him how deep Adrian’s unhappiness was. Not unlike Vlad’s own distress once Lisa had been killed. Less powerful, perhaps, but Adrian obviously hadn’t consummated his relationship with these two. He spoke of them rarely to Vlad in the past few weeks, but every time he did his voice was filled with longing.

Vampires felt emotions so keenly, especially love. It was precious to them. Fundamentally life changing. 

All the more reason to get these two humans back to where they belonged. At Adrian’s side. 

Once there, then Vlad could start work on actually getting all three of them to pull their heads out of their asses long enough to forge a more permanent bond. Trevor seemed eager enough. Maybe it wouldn’t be too difficult?

While Vlad had been musing, Sypha and Trevor continued to discuss options and make plans. 

“It’s been a long time since we saw him,” Sypha said quietly. 

“Yeah.” Trevor toed at the dirt next to the wheel. “Wonder if he even cares to see us.”

“He would. He does. I’m sure of it. We’re friends.” She sounded firm. “Let’s go. Maybe he can help, maybe he can’t. Either way, we’ll still get to visit. We have almost two years of adventures to tell him about.”

 _Finally_. 

\--

“Here, put on a clean shirt.” Vlad appeared out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of Adrian. 

“What? Why?” He fumbled with the shirt that Vlad’s spirit thrust at him. It was white and loose and had frills at the collar and sleeves. Adrian frowned. “Is this yours?”

“No, it’s yours. As is everything in this castle. Now hurry up. Your humans are coming.” Vlad loomed nearby. Even as a ghost, he was tall. So fucking tall that Adrian still felt like a child next to him.

“My humans?” Understanding dawned. “Sypha and Trevor.”

“Yes, yes. I tried to encourage them, but I think I only ended up delaying them further. Stubborn fools,” Vlad muttered.

“Father, what did you do?” Adrian tried to sound stern, but he was too busy scrambling into his shirt.

There was every chance that the past two months had been one long hallucination. That Adrian’s mind had finally broken under the loneliness and dark oppression of the dread castle, and he was having a nice long fantasy about someone actually giving a shit about him. 

He’d come to the conclusion long ago that even if that was the case, he didn’t care. He’d take what he could get.

Besides, if Vlad was a hallucination then he was a very helpful one. With his guidance, Adrian had managed to get most of the controls for the castle repaired which in turn allowed him to get the castle to repair everything else itself. He’d left the moving engine alone for the time being, though he knew how to fix it now. 

The castle would stay on top of the Belmont hold. Both were his responsibility now. 

“Nothing that you need to worry about,” Vlad said with a wave of his claws. “Just know that your humans will arrive soon.”

“How soon is soon?”

“...” 

It was hard to see with all the dark energy and the translucent body, but it looked like Vlad was frowning. 

“Father. How soon?” Adrian resisted the urge to tap his foot.

“Time is...difficult to gauge as a spirit.”

“Where are they now?” 

There was a moment’s pause and Vlad’s form flickered away for a second. “East of Restar.”

Adrian pinched the bridge of his nose. “So two weeks travel away.” 

So much for needing to put on a nicer shirt. 

“...At least you will be prepared,” Vlad said firmly.

Adrian just sighed. 

\---

“The castle has a wall around it,” Trevor said flatly.

“I can see that,” Sypha answered. 

It was a very large wall. Very tall and made of solid black blocks of stone, each one the size of a horse. Vlad was suitably pleased by its sturdiness.

“How the _fuck_ did Adrian build this?” Trevor demanded, waving a hand at the wall looming in front of them.

“Good question. He is very strong, I suppose?” Sypha looked unsure.

“I helped,” Vlad said smugly. His spirit floated alongside their wagon as they rode up. Adrian had asked for some time alone to prepare for his friends' arrival, and Vlad didn’t have the heart to deny him. 

“Did you hear that?” Trevor asked, looking around. 

“It’s the wind here. Makes all the creepy branch sounds.” Sypha waggled her fingers at Trevor and made _oooOOooOOoo_ noises.

“Shut up,” Trevor laughed and flapped a hand at her. She giggled back.

They had so much mirth, so much happiness. It did seem to increase as they got closer to the castle---eagerness for seeing Adrian, Vlad hoped---but it was just so much a part of them as people. Again, Vlad was reminded of his Lisa. Always the light to his darkness. 

He could feel that his task was nearly done. Help his son find happiness, and then his son and his two humans would be able to help the people of this land together. Individually, they were each powerful people. Together they were unstoppable. 

Vlad knew that from experience. 

Larger forces were brewing in distant lands. Vlad could feel it. His son would need to be ready. These humans would help.

Then maybe Vlad would be able to rest peacefully with his beloved Lisa. 

“That is a very large gate,” Trevor said blandly, pointing at the entrance to the castle grounds. 

The massive gate had grown out of the ground at Adrian’s command. Its ironwork twisted on itself like roots or branches. It was lovely. Vlad had always prefered sharper styles, but this was his son’s house now and Adrian could redesign it how he liked. Knowing that he felt comfortable doing so actually set Vlad’s heart at ease. 

The last two months had been difficult. Adrian was still prone to fits of despair, but he wasn’t harming himself any more. 

At least he knew that he wasn’t alone. 

“That’s a very large gate that is opening on its own,” Sypha added. 

The gate had swung open without a sound. Vlad wasn’t sure if it was him or Adrian who ordered it. His son’s energy was slowly filtering into the castle, and it responded as much to him now as it did to Vlad. 

Vlad was very proud. 

He’d always been proud of his son. Even at the end.

“I guess we’re expected.” Trevor sounded confident, but he glanced around like he was waiting for an ambush.

\---

Adrian felt like he was going to fly apart with nerves. 

He’d had the brief idea of just leaving all the doors open and letting Trevor and Sypha make their way in themselves. 

That was ridiculous, though, and Adrian knew it. 

No, better to just wait outside in front of the castle. The same as when they left him waving goodbye as they rode off to adventure and love. 

Not that he was bitter. Just...tired, maybe.

It was almost painful to see their wagon appear in the distance, coming through the gate like they were coming home. The moment they saw him they started waving and smiling. Adrian found himself smiling back, though tears stung at his eyes too.

“ALUCARD!” Trevor yelled. He bounded out of the wagon the moment it was close and raced over to pull Adrian into a hug that threatened to break his ribs.

“Get ahold of yourself, Belmont,” Adrian teased. His voice wasn’t rough from disuse anymore, not like when his father’s ghost had first started appearing to him. That was one small mercy. The less his friends knew of his distress, the better.

“Oh fuck off, you sulky bastard,” Trevor said with a grin. 

Sypha barreled into them and wrapped her arms around them both, adding her strength to the hug.

“Alucard,” she said gleefully.

Adrian couldn’t help himself. He bowed his head and shoved himself closer to them both, trying to surround himself with every bit of their scent that he could. This conveniently let his hair fall over his face, covering up the tears that were now spilling down his cheeks. 

Humans were so fragile. He couldn’t squeeze too hard. Just hard enough to keep them close.

“Alucard?” Trevor asked quietly. 

Ah. Adrian’s shoulders were shaking from the tears. Damn.

He pulled back, wiping his eyes with the same movement.

“It’s nothing,” Adrian said with a wave and a sniff. He turned and started walking. “Come. There is food waiting in the kitchen.”

“Fooood,” Trevor moaned, his earlier concern apparently forgotten.

“He’s such a simple creature,” Vlad intoned next to them.

Adrian stumbled, and flashed a warning look to his father.

Shit, that was his father’s ghost. The ghost of _Dracula_. What was he thinking showing himself to the humans who helped kill him?!

“Alucard, are you alright?” Sypha asked, worried.

Adrian looked back and forth between his father and the humans. Sypha and Trevor didn’t spare Vlad a single glance. They were, however, looking at Adrian like he’d grown a second head.

“Fine! Very fine,” Adrian said, shaking his head quickly. 

He turned and stalked off towards the kitchen again, with Trevor and Sypha trailing a few steps behind him.

“Father, can they not see you?” he muttered, hoping that he wasn’t coming off as a total lunatic.

“Apparently not. They couldn’t perceive me at all on the road, but I am weaker outside of the castle. Regardless, my power was still enough to curse them into coming home.”

“You _what?!_ ” Adrian shouted and whirled to stare at his father. Then he froze, and shifted his gaze to Trevor and Sypha, who were now looking at him like he was a bomb about to go off.

“I cursed them,” Vlad said casually, waving a dismissive hand. “It’s fine. Nothing dangerous. But enough to try and nudge them into coming back. Sort of backfired on me, though. Like everything with these two,” he muttered grumpily.

“Alucard, have you gone fucking insane?” Trevor asked flatly.

Adrian glared at Trevor in irritation. “Probably. Fuck off, Belmont. Dinner is served.”

He hurried to the kitchen. All he had to do was get through the meal and then he could put his humans to bed and go scream at his father for being a meddling asshole. 

_His humans_. God, he’d been listening to Vlad talk for too long.

“How did you know we were coming?” Sypha asked. “We didn’t send word.”

“The castle told me.” Which was true enough, if one considered that Vlad was part of the castle now. Or rather, the castle was part of Vlad and perhaps always would be. It was probably significantly less creepy to say that then to imply that the ghost of his genocidal parent was haunting him and giving him advice. 

From the looks on Trevor and Sypha’s face, that was an incorrect assumption.

“Is that how the wall got built, too?” Trevor asked. He sounded casual. Forcibly casual. Like he was talking to someone contemplating jumping off a roof.

Goddamit. 

“Yes,” Adrian answered with a wave. “I repaired some of the castle self-sustaining mechanisms, and those, in turn, helped me repair and add on to large portions of the castle. As my father once said, it grows on its own in a complicated blend of science and magic, older than most human countries.”

He’d gone in to lecture mode, but that was easier than dealing with questions.

God, but he’d gotten bad at talking to people. Not that he was very charming to begin with, if he was being honest with himself. 

“That’s amazing,” Sypha breathed.

“No, _that_ is amazing,” Trevor said. They’d made it to the small kitchen that Adrian’s mother had favored, and roasting over the massive fireplace was a whole boar.

“Should be done by now,” Adrian said. “Help yourself. I’ll get the drinks.”

“Fuck yes.” Trevor immediately went over to the meat and tried to pull a piece of crispy, honey marinated skin off. “FUCK! OW!” He jerked his hand back and started waving it in the air.

Adrian paused to watch as Trevor shoved his singed fingers into his mouth.

“Oommffy gowdd, dthas fuckn’ goood,” Trevor moaned while licking.

Several complicated feelings raced through Alucard, and he _could not_ stop looking at that tongue.

“Hmmm,” Vlad said next to him, looking back and forth between them both.

With his fingers soothed and licked clean, Trevor promptly tried to pull at _the exact same piece_ of sizzling hot pork, and again pulled his hand back yelping in pain.

Adrian’s face twitched in incredulous annoyance. He could _feel_ how unimpressed Vlad was next to him. It was a tangible sensation.

“He’s a himbo,” Vlad said with the air of sudden realization. “So strong. So dumb.”

Adrian choked and shoved his hand over his mouth to cover any response he might have made. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or curse. Both seemed like good options.

Quickly, he headed to the cold pantry where he’d stashed some wine. Once hidden behind the door he felt free to gently slam his head against the shelf. 

“Father,” he groaned quietly.

“What? It’s true.” 

The ghost of Vlad Ţepeş, scourge of humanity, the Great Dragon himself, lurked near Adrian to gossip with him about the attractiveness of one of his murderers. 

_God_. 

“He’s like your mother in a way. Passionate, and unwilling to stand on protocol with anyone. Even us. He’s just...much. Much. Stupider.” Vlad shook his head. “I suppose I can see the appeal. He’s very well built.”

“Stop,” Adrian moaned. “I beg of you.” 

The last thing he _ever_ wanted to think about was his father considering Trevor’s ample physical charms.

“He’d probably enjoy you taking control. He certainly likes it when Sypha does it.”

Oh _god_. No, no, no, no.

“Sypha is much like your mother, too. So sure of herself, and with a light that burns inside of her.”

“Father, stop, please. I don’t ever want to think about my mother and Sypha in the same context,” Adrian moaned quietly. His face hurt with how much he was blushing.

“She might wish to do the penetrating. If so, remember to use plenty of oil and to relax into it. That will make it easier for both of you.”

“Oh god, where is the wine.” Adrian felt like dying. There was definitely a headache starting to form between his eyes. Like a ice pick to the face. 

“Alucard, are you well?” Sypha peeked at him from around the cold pantry door.

“I’m fine, Sypha,” Adrian said stiffly. He grabbed the bottles that he’d been looking for. 

His father had kept him appraised of Sypha and Trevor’s progress. As the time of their arrival became imminent, Adrian had tried to stock this room with things that would sustain human life. There were dried goods, items left over from his mother’s inhabitance. Teas and spices, frozen goods in a magiced cold chest, and a variety of drinks preserved through science and alchemy. 

It had been...painful. To go through this room. Everything smelled so much like his mother. Scents were so powerful to vampires, and Adrian wasn’t an exception. 

He did it, though. Forced himself to do this so that Trevor and Sypha would not regret their coming here. 

They deserved the best that this maze of death and horror could offer, meager as that bounty was. 

“Alucard?” 

Shit. Sypha was still looking at him with wide, worried eyes. 

He thought back to what he’d overheard her say back when they first found the Belmont family hold. _He’s like a cold spot in the room_. 

Pain welled up inside of him and he swallowed it down and forced himself into looking casually indifferent.

“Sorry, just distracted,” Adrian said dismissively. “Wine, to go with the meat.”

“Right.” Sypha took a step back, but her brow was furrowed and a small frown on her face. 

“Just one bottle?” Trevor called out from his space near the fire.

It looked like he’d finally decided to properly carve the beast that Adrian had specifically hunted and cooked for them. He’d used his mother’s wildflower honey for the marinade. 

_Stupid._

He should have saved it. That thought made him almost laugh. Saved it, why? So he could stare at it and never eat it?

“Adrian,” Vlad whispered, drawing his attention back to the conversation. 

Damn, but it was very fucking difficult to keep his mind on track. 

“If I supplied more, you’d just drink it all, and then I’d have to deal with your drunken ass,” Adrian said acidically. He didn’t mean it, but it was what Trevor expected and it was easier than telling them how he wished he could get drunk.

“Hmmm. I guess I can’t fault you for that logic,” Trevor muttered as he placed a platter full of carved pork onto the trestle table that Adrian had set up for dining. 

Sypha and Trevor sat next to each other on one of the benches. Adrian waited for them to settle before taking a seat on the opposite side of the table. 

The placement meant nothing, surely. They just wanted to see him when they talked. It wasn’t that they were avoiding touching him.

Adrian swallowed down the bile in his throat. _So far this is going swimmingly_ , he thought sarcastically.

“Are you not eating, Alucard?” Sypha asked. “You said that you do eat sometimes.”

“...Yes. Of course.” Adrian hadn’t eaten solid food in months. Just blood from the stores. 

Now that he thought about it, he was probably looking a little worse for wear because of that. He glanced down to look at himself. Was he thinner? It was hard for him to tell.

Before he could reach for anything himself, Trevor had piled some choice pieces of meat on a plate and shoved it in front of him. Sypha poured a glass of wine and pushed it right next to the plate of food. 

“Thank you,” Adrian said, though more out of courtesy than any real gratitude. 

He didn’t want to eat. His mother’s honey was on this meat.

God, this was a stupid thing to get caught up on. Lisa Ţepeş would have wanted him to feed himself. 

“It’s alright, my son,” Vlad murmured next to him. He coalesced down on the bench next to Adrian, close enough that what should have been his shoulder brushed with Adrian’s. It was a comfort. At least _someone_ was willing to be close, even if it was the likely-hallucinated ghost of his dead, monstrous father. 

“Just try a few bites, and you can stop if you don’t like it,” Vlad said as Adrian stared at the plate in front of him.

That made Adrian laugh, sharp and painful. Those were the same words they told him as a child when he didn’t want to eat something new.

He took a bite out of habit, ignoring the worried look that Sypha and Trevor gave each other. 

“Not terrible,” Adrian had to admit. 

“Pretty damn good cooking for a blood sucker,” Trevor said jovially. He’d already demolished half of his plate and was eyeing the platter for more. 

“I’m glad that you two are well,” Adrian said between tiny bites. Now that he was eating, he kept at it, propelled by momentum. “What grand adventures have you dragged yourselves through these past months?”

He almost said ‘years’. The only thing that stopped him was that acknowledging the time lapse might somehow make them feel bad for leaving. Regardless of his feelings about it, if they thought he was ungrateful for their visit, they might leave again. He...didn’t want to think about that.

Adrian let their words wash over him without really paying much attention to their content. It was enough just to hear their voices in the echoing gloom of the castle. His father’s spirit was a warm brand at his side, shoring up his mental and emotional stability.

Until it couldn’t help any more.

“Forgive me,” Adrian said, interrupting something that Sypha was saying. “I find that I am more weary than I expected. I think I will retire for the night. Leave the food. The castle will clean it up and put the leftovers in the cold pantry,” he pointed to its location along the wall. “Please help yourselves to anything you find here.”

He’d already hidden that which was most precious to his mother. Her favorite spices, her best tea. They would be safe for Adrian to hold and smell. For the rest of time, probably.

God, how long would he live anyways?

Trevor and Sypha were exchanging more of those looks.

“Alucard, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Trevor asked flatly. “This is goddamn ridiculous. You’re talking to yourself, muttering, staring into nothing. You look like a damn zombie, and as a Belmont, I would know.”

“Everything is fine,” Adrian said acidically. He tightened one hand into a fist and tried to control his temper. 

“Bullshit.”

“Is it the isolation?” Sypha asked. “Have you been alone here all this time? I thought...well, I didn’t know if that was a thing that bothered vampires. Please. We just want to help.”

“No you fucking don’t!” Adrian shouted at them. He forced his teeth to snap shut, but he couldn’t cover them with his lips; the snarl was all but glued in place. His voice dropped low and nasty. “You just want to leave.”

“Alucard---” Trevor started. Of all goddamn things, he sounded hurt.

“No, you shut up.” Adrian switched his attention to Trevor and wrestled his temper back under control. It took a great deal of effort. When he started talking again, he made sure that his voice was calmer. “You have every right to leave. Neither of you deserve this place. I know that best of all.”

“And you do?” Sypha asked coldly. “Why? Because you’re a monster? Alucard, you’re a hero, you saved everyone.”

“I killed my father, the last person in this world who cared about me.” Adrian’s voice had gone deadly quiet. 

Sypha and Trevor both opened their mouths to object, but Alucard held up a finger to them.

“Don’t. Don’t you fucking say it,” he growled out.

He stood up and stalked to the door of the kitchen. Before he could leave he paused and took a breath. It would be rude to leave them like this, alone in his father’s castle. _His_ castle. They were his friends, despite everything, and Adrian was already starting to regret his words.

“The castle will guide you to your rooms for the night. Just follow the lights,” Adrian said quietly. The mental command to the castle’s fixtures took almost no effort. Or perhaps his father had taken care of it for him. He didn’t care. 

It was time to leave. 

As he walked down the hall, his keen hearing picked up Trevor saying, “Well, that was a clusterfuck.”

Adrian had to agree.

\--

Adrian made it to his bedroom. Or the new guest bedroom that he’d claimed as his own, anyways. He still couldn’t go into his childhood bedroom without bawling his eyes out for indeterminate amounts of time. This room was safer. 

He sat on the edge of the bed and stared into nothing. 

For a while.

Eventually it registered that his father was there, sitting with him. Suddenly the pain and upset was just too much for Adrian to deal with. He got up and grabbed a knife out from under his pillow. He’d slept with one every night since he’d woken up by Sypha and Trevor in Gresit. It was habit born of necessity. 

“Father, please leave,” Adrian asked quietly.

“No.” Vlad’s voice was firm, but there were undertones in it that spoke of upset and worry. Maybe anger. His father was very good at anger, after all. 

“You needn’t be concerned,” Adrian said, resting his elbows on his knees and letting his head hang down. “I won’t kill myself. I won’t. That would be. Wasteful.”

“Wasteful.” Vlad’s voice was cold and hard.

But Adrian had fought him face to face when Dracula was in the full throes of screaming madness. His father’s cold disapproval would never bother him again.

“I just.” Adrian’s voice cracked and tears were streaming down his face. The words wouldn’t stop. They were wrong and awful but he couldn’t stop them. “I can’t break the castle, because I spent all this time fixing it. I can’t break anything of Mother’s because that’s all I have left of her, and I can’t break anything of my own because if it goes away then there is nobody else in the _whole world_ who will replace it for me, not ever again. All I have left to safely destroy is my body, because I can just keep...healing. Forever.”

“Adrian, no.” Now the pain was clear in Vlad’s voice, and his spirit moved to embrace Adrian. 

But Adrian just shook his head and rubbed his face with one hand.

“Leave me alone, father. Just. Just for an hour or two. Not forever, but just a little while. Please.” Adrian’s throat hurt and his chest ached like there was a hole carved into it.

Silence reigned. Adrian could feel Vlad thinking things over. The sensation of fury was palpable in the air, but Adrian just did not have the energy to deal with it. He just waited and breathed. 

“Very well,” Vlad said in a low growl.

And then he was gone.

Gone.

God, Adrian had pissed off and driven away literally the last shred of outside care and concern from his life. What the fuck was wrong with him? Trevor and Sypha were here, finally, at long last. He should be laughing and joking with them. Not pissing away his evening alone. Again.

He looked at the knife in his hands and wished that he had a bottle of pig’s blood on hand. 

Energy rippled through the castle, and when Adrian looked over to the end table next to the bed there was a bottle of blood on it. Again, Adrian couldn’t tell if he’d ordered the castle with his casual thoughts, or if Vlad had the blood delivered, knowing that his son would need it. 

It didn’t matter, in the end. The blood was here. 

He’d put it to use.

\--

“Well, that was a clusterfuck,” Trevor said flatly a few seconds after Alucard left the room.

“No shit,” Sypha quietly agreed. 

They sat and stared at the doorway for a minute. 

“Sypha...I think we maybe fucked up,” Trevor admitted quietly.

“I think you’re right,” she agreed. “That was…”

“Fucking weird. Alucard doesn’t lose his temper like that.” Trevor went back to picking at his food. No sense in wasting it, after all. It was damn good, too.

“If he felt badly after the fight with Dracula, and he’s kept it bottled up inside all this time…”

“Boohoo. Bad shit happens to everyone,” Trevor scoffed. He wasn’t trying to be mean. Those were just the facts of life. His own dead family, burned to death by the church, could attest to that. 

“That is true. But we are his friends. We should have come back sooner. Or stayed longer, or took him with us.”

“Someone had to stay here and keep this place from being looted,” Trevor said reasonably. “You had to find your grandfather and pass on the stories and knowledge you’d learned. This was the best division of labor.” He paused to take a bite and chew, and then slumped his shoulders in defeat. “Maybe we should have come back sooner.”

Talk and necessity aside, Trevor was worried and he had truly missed Alucard's company.

“We got distracted,” Sypha agreed. “There were still remnants of Dracula’s army around to kill.”

“‘Were’? You mean there still _are_ ,” Trevor said with a harumph. “We’ll be killing demons and gargoyles for-fucking-ever.” 

Sypha froze with one bite of food halfway to her mouth.

“What?” Trevor said through a mouthful of food.

“You’re right. We are still killing demons and gargoyles by the dozen. Why is that? Dracula’s army should have been long exterminated, or fled to the dark places of the world without his leadership to force them into service.”

Now Trevor was starting to see what she was getting at.

“So why are we still finding them around?” he finished for her.

“They haven’t been in regular patrols. Nothing that would make it seem organized. But there have been enough that _something_ else is going on.” Sypha finally seemed to remember that she had a pile of meat on her fork and shoved it in her mouth. 

“Do you think it’s Alucard?” Trevor asked, mostly for the hell of it.

They both looked at each other for a silent moment, and then started cracking up laughing.

“God, can you picture it?” Trevor wheezed.

“Alucard the demon lord? No. Not in a million years.” Sypha giggled along with him.

Their amusement dried up quickly.

“Alucard is hurting in a bad way, isn’t he?” Trevor asked quietly. Something stung in his chest at the thought that Alucard didn’t think that he mattered to them. Not even a little. 

“Yeah. Trevor, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how we can even help if he won’t let us.” 

Trevor slid an arm over her shoulder and hugged her close.

“We’ll figure it out,” he said soothingly. 

\--

Their bedrooms were nice. More than nice. Extravagant. Plush. Sumptuous. A hundred other words that Trevor didn’t know that all meant _really fucking fancy_. 

They’d been directed by following blinking lamps on the walls. Apparently the castle, or Alucard, had assigned them rooms that were side by side. By mutual agreement, they both decided to sleep in the same one.

Partially because it was nice to sleep with someone else and they were both used to it. Partially because Dracula’s castle was still creepy as fuck.

Their personal belongings were already waiting for them, with clothes cleaned and put away and weapons settled on weapons stands. 

“I hope the horses got taken care of too,” Sypha said. 

“Hrm. Yeah. I didn’t even think about them earlier,” Trevor admitted. The moment Adrian had nearly broken down crying in their arms at that first, and only, hug, Trevor’s mind had been on a single track trying to figure out what was wrong.

“They’re probably fine,” Sypha said, shaking her head.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Trevor nodded along. 

They both looked at each other.

“I really hope that they aren’t demon food right now,” Sypha said with a wince.

“Right?!”

After some snooping around, they found a bathing room. Sypha did not scrub Trevor down by force, but it was a near thing. 

Feeling fresher and cleaner than he'd ever expected to while in Dracula’s castle, Trevor sprawled out onto the massive bed. He’d put on clothes in a minute. The top blanket was so fucking soft that he wanted to enjoy it as much as possible while he had the chance, and part of that enjoyment was rubbing his skin all over it. 

The Morning Star, his blessed chain-link whip, was still in his hand. He might want to enjoy himself, but he wasn’t fucking _stupid_. 

“Hedonist,” Sypha teased him. “You’d think you’d spend more time in inns if you liked blankets this much.”

“If more of the inns I could afford to stay at had blankets like this, I might!” Trevor groaned and rolled onto his front. God, that was even better.

A cold breeze swirled through the otherwise warm room, causing Trevor to yelp and wrap his tender bits in the hastily grabbed blanket. 

The lights flickered, once, twice, and then all but one went out. How magic glowing crystals could even flicker, Trevor had no idea, but this was officially beyond fucking weird anyways. He let his whip unravel and suddenly cursed his lack of pants.

“Trevor,” Sypha said, worried. She only had a robe on, but at least that was better than a blanket. Her hands were raised, held in position to start casting.

Shadows grew in the corner in the form of a tall, looming figure with glowing red eyes. No features were visible, but Trevor had a very bad fucking feeling about who, or what, it could be.

The sound of the breeze in the room grew, turning to whispers in the dark. Louder and louder, like buzzing cicadas, until a multitude of voices were all but shouting at them.

“ _Adrian. **Adrian**_.”

The shadow figure pointed towards the door to the hallway.

Then it was gone.

Completely.

The lights were back on. The room was warm. 

“Whaaaat the fuck,” Trevor looked around the room, mystified. 

“Trevor, Adrian is Alucard’s birth name,” Sypha said, suddenly scrambling for the door.

“Oh, shit.” Trevor just held the blanket around his waist and hauled ass after her. 

Something was wrong with Alucard, and this godforsaken, creepy as fuck, fucking _castle_ just warned them to find him and help.

The lights in the hall blinked again, leading them down as fast as they could run. It wouldn’t have mattered. There was only one door that had light shining out from under it.

Trevor kicked down the door with a solid stomp of one foot, and then rushed in with his whip ready. Sypha followed just a step behind him.

What Trevor saw made him freeze in place. 

Alucard sitting at the edge of his bed, his stupidly pretty fancy white shirt stained liberally with blood. His own, from the looks of the knife he held in his hand. The way the fabric was draped, it was hard to see where he’d cut himself. Somewhere on his arms, probably. 

“Well, _fuck_ ,” Trevor muttered.

\--

Adrian stared blankly at Trevor and Sypha. 

They were naked. Or mostly naked, anyways. Trevor with a coverlet around his waist and Sypha in a robe.

Adrian was still bleeding. He hadn’t bothered with the pig’s blood yet. He’d get to it. 

He blinked at them.

“What?” Adrian asked, finally feeling numb.

“Oh god,” Sypha whispered.

Adrian blinked again and Trevor and Sypha were _right there_. In front of him. Holding him. Checking his injuries. 

That was about the time that Adrian realized that he’d miscalculated. 

_Badly_. 

He was injured and he was hungry. That had never been a problem in the past because he’d been alone in the past. Now there were two people, alive, healthy, full of blood people, with their hands all over him and their heartbeats pounding in Adrian’s ears.

“No!” he shouted, and flung himself back before his hunger could force him to do something he would deeply regret. A few scrambled movements later and he was over the bed and crawling backwards until he hit the wall.

“No,” Adrian said again, shaking his head and holding his arms close. “I am hungry and you two should not be here.”

His fangs hurt his gums with how elongated they were. He hugged himself, gripping his arms so hard that his fingernails dug into the skin, compounding his injury. Dammit.

“Alucard, you’re hurt,” Trevor said.

He looked so damn beautiful there, with his broad, scarred chest and that stupid blanket just barely slipping down his sharp hipbones. Sypha was just as bad with the thick material of her dressing gown clinging to her like a second skin, showing off every curve. 

God, but the pure want that Adrian felt in that moment was nearly as bad as the hunger.

“There is bottled pig’s blood on my desk.” Adrian nodded at the bottle, but didn’t take his eyes off of Trevor and Sypha. He couldn’t. “I’ll be fine, but you two should go.”

“Fuck that,” Trevor scoffed. 

“Seconded.” Sypha wrapped her robe more tightly around herself and retrieved the bottle of blood. “We’ve all been injured to near death around each other before, this hardly qualifies as a problem.”

She walked around the bed and held the bottle out to him. Adrian could see a faint shine of red on the glass; his eyes were glowing.

“You’ve got better self control than anyone I have ever fucking met,” Trevor said as he sat on the edge of the bed in front of Adrian. “We aren’t leaving. So drink up and heal up.”

They all stared at each other for a moment. 

_They’re right_. Adrian swallowed and nodded sharply. He could do this. He wouldn’t hurt them, not ever.

He grabbed the bottle from Sypha and drained it, one thick, sweet, metallic swallow at a time. Best to drink it all, just to be on the safe side. 

By the time he was done, his wounds were healed. 

“Good, now take off your fucking shirt,” Trevor said. He waved his fingers in a circling ‘come on’ motion.

“What.” Adrian couldn’t help but feel like he’d been bullrushed. 

“You’re filthy, Alucard,” Sypha supplied. “I’m not cuddling up to your bloody shirt. Take it off. Unless you want me to strip you.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

That was enough to spur him into movement. Adrian stripped the sad remains of his fine shirt off.

Trevor was already there, kneeling at his side with a wet cloth from the wash basin in the corner. Adrian hadn’t even seen him move to get it. 

Very gently, as if Adrian were made of spun glass, Trevor cleaned off every speck of blood on his arms and his chest. The cloth was soft and warm, and every wipe just showed off more of the vast collection of thin scars that Adrian had acquired over the last two years.

Warmth radiated off of Trevor’s body, and every touch of skin on skin tingled and throbbed. It felt _so fucking good_. 

“God,” Adrian breathed out. His eyes burned from holding back tears. 

Trevor’s face was so close, rough but freshly clean. The brilliant blue of his eyes nearly glowed in the soft light of the room. 

There was another touch on his shoulder. Sypha was there, pulling his hair back into a tamer bundle. Her hands were so soft. The perfect contrast to Trevor’s callused ones. 

“Come to bed, Alucard,” Sypha said quietly. Her eyes were darker than Trevor’s, but just as blue. Like the difference between a summer sky and a deep lake.

Adrian didn’t have the words to answer. A tear burned hot down his cheek.

“Come on,” Trevor said, and lifted him bodily up. 

Alucard’s brain started to function a little at that point, and he was able to stand on his own. Not that it mattered. Trevor and Sypha herded him into his bed regardless. 

He half expected them to just tuck him in and leave him.

But they didn’t.

Trevor climbed into the bed first, shoving the Morning Star under a pillow and arranging himself on his side under the covers, facing Adrian. 

A gentle shove at Adrian’s back had him scooting in. Sypha just kept pushing him, until Adrian was flush up against Trevor’s front.

Oh god, Trevor’s _naked_ front. At some point in the shifting, Trevor’s blanket had come undone, and rather than do anything sane like cover up, Trevor had pulled it over Adrian to cover him too. Leaving the full length of Trevor’s naked body pressed up against him. 

Before Adrian could have a proper freak out about that, Sypha slid up behind him. Scorching heat flared across Adrian’s back. There was just enough skin contact for Adrian to wonder if she’d actually untied her robe.

“What, what are you---” Adrian stuttered. He was so warm. Sypha and Trevor settled the covers over all of them, and then shifted forward, squeezing him between them.

“Shut up, Alucard,” Trevor said softly. He sounded fond. Adrian didn’t know what to do with that. “We’re just showing you that we love you.”

A brief flash of something like panic swam through him. Not that Adrian was _opposed_ to sex, but…

“No, we aren’t doing that,” Sypha said into the back of his neck. She’d moved his hair so she could nose right into his skin. 

“Not yet, anyways,” Trevor added, causing Adrian’s brain to come to a screeching halt. “But for right now, we’re all just going to get some sleep.”

Arms wrapped around him from both sides and held him close.

It was so much. Adrian didn’t know what to do with himself. 

God, he hadn’t been touched in _years_. 

The tears started coming, faster and faster until Adrian was shivering and shuddering with them.

“Everything is going to be alright,” Trevor whispered. He spread his hand around the back of Adrian’s skull and urged him to duck under Trevor’s chin. Adrian did so without qualm.

“You’re not alone anymore,” Sypha whispered to him.

“We’re here,” Trevor said just as softly.

Adrian cried. For himself. For his mother. For his father. For all the people who’d died. All the rage and hurt and loneliness poured out of him along with his tears. He cried at the unfairness of it all. He cried because none of this should have ever fucking happened in the first place. 

He cried because finally there were people there to cry with him. 

Trevor and Sypha were _there_. Holding him like he mattered. 

He wept with happiness and relief. 

Eventually his tears ran out.

Trevor and Sypha didn’t move away. 

“Feel better?” Trevor asked quietly.

“Weirdly. Yes,” Adrian croaked. He was mildly astonished that his answer was true. 

The numbness was back, but only a little. It felt more like the clean solace of comfort and a healing wound rather than the dangerous apathy that had plagued him for months. Everything was warm and soft around him, with the scent of skin in his nose and the feel of familiar, beloved heartbeats against his body.

“Good. Now we sleep,” Sypha said firmly. She gave Adrian’s chest a squeeze, and then snuggled in.

“Yes, good idea,” Trevor added. He shifted closer too, leaving Adrian well and truly trapped between them. He couldn’t really move at all.

It was strangely wonderful. 

Adrian hesitated.

“This is going to sound...incredibly stupid,” Adrian said with a sigh. “And I promise you I am not crazy.”

“I don’t think any of us really qualify as sane, but go on,” Sypha said, sounding amused.

Adrian closed his eyes for a moment and tried to think of a way out of this. 

He couldn’t.

“Father,” he said quietly. “If you can hear me, please, _please_ , for the love of god and my mother, do not watch me while I am in bed with Trevor and Sypha.”

There was a short moment of silence. And indrawn breath.

Then Trevor and Sypha howled with laughter. They were both gasping and rolling in bed, they were laughing so hard. Adrian’s face _burned_ with embarrassment. 

“ _It is a valid concern!_ ” Adrian hissed at them. He couldn't keep himself from smiling a little bit, too.

It was pretty funny. 

That just made the laughter even louder. Sypha was crying, and Trevor had shoved his face into the pillow.

“Oh god, oh my god, Alucard, do you really think---?” Trevor wheezed in between cackling.

“That my father might accidentally see something he shouldn’t? Yes!” Adrian answered, torn between laughter and outrage. “If I didn’t say anything, he might stick around and see...something he shouldn’t.”

Both Sypha and Trevor sputtered and choked on their snickers. 

“God,” Sypha gasped. 

Adrian covered his face with both hands and groaned even as he tried not to grin.

 _Better to say something than risk my father’s commentary at an inappropriate time_. 

To his satisfaction, he didn’t feel a hint of Vlad’s presence. So maybe it worked. 

As the laughter petered off, Trevor and Sypha curled back in around Adrian, bringing with them their warmth and their love. Adrian still couldn’t quite believe it. 

“Seriously, was that really necessary?” Trevor asked. Since Adrian was once again laying with his head tucked under Trevor’s chin, he couldn’t see the smile on Trevor’s face. He definitely heard it in his voice, though. 

“I am haunted by the ghost of my father,” Adrian said quietly. Weariness was well and truly stealing up on him, and he’d never felt so damn comfortable in his life.

“Oh, Alucard…” Sypha’s voice was heavy with sympathy.

“Wait, literally?” Trevor asked.

“It’s a metaphor---” Sypha started.

“Yes, literally,” Adrian said flatly.

There was a long moment of silence as Trevor and Sypha digested this.

“Is that why you’re all fucked up?” Trevor asked.

“Incredibly, no.” Adrian sighed. “He’s been trying to help.”

“So he really is watching you?” Sypha asked.

“Yes. And you two, from time to time.”

“Does that mean he’s seen Sypha and I have sex?!” Trevor’s body tensed up with barely contained horror.

“I am not answering that,” Adrian said firmly.

“That’s a yes. Uggghhh.” Sypha shuddered. 

“I’m sure if he saw…anything. It was an accident,” Adrian said primly. 

“Which is why you warned him just now,” Trevor filled in. “So there would be no accidents.”

“Exactly.”

“Alucard, your life is _fucked_.” There was almost a hint of admiration in Trevor’s voice, and definitely some sympathy, if the extra tight squeeze was anything to go by.

“Adrian,” Adrian said. “Alucard was the name I was given to kill my father. The opposite of the great and terrible Dracula. Dracula is dead now.” He swallowed hard and his voice went low and rough. “There is no reason to hide my name from the humans any more, and no need for the sleeping soldier prophecy. When I’m in my own home, I’m Adrian.”

Because that’s what this castle was. It was his home. And he could make it whatever he wanted it to be.

Trevor laid a soft kiss on the crown of Adrian’s head, just as Sypha left one on the back of his neck.

“Adrian it is, then,” Trevor said easily.

“It’s a good name,” Sypha added. 

Trevor grunted in agreement. 

One more line of tension flew out of Adrian’s body. He tugged Sypha and Trevor’s arms around him tighter and breathed in their combined scents. 

Everything wasn’t fixed. He could still feel the loneliness and hurt off somewhere in the distance, waiting for him to look at again. He still had this responsibility to tend to, the castle and the Belmont hold. Trevor and Sypha had their own plans as well, and the three of them really needed to sit down an talk about what the fuck they were all going to do. 

Adrian didn’t want to be alone anymore. 

But now he realized that perhaps he might not have to be.

The End

PS:

Vlad peeked into his son’s room. Adrian and his two humans were wrapped up together under a pile of blankets. Warm, cozy, and all of them deeply asleep. 

A quick thought to the castle had the door silently fixed. Vlad was impressed with Trevor’s initiative, if not the execution of his entrance. 

Finally, Adrian was being taken care of. Vlad wondered if his work was done here.

He cast is spirit up and out, searching for Lisa in the spirit realms beyond.

“Well done, my love,” Lisa said, manifesting in his arms. “Time for a short break.”

Vlad was already kissing her before he realized what she’d said.

“A short break?” he asked, looking at her in surprise.

“You’ve made admirable progress on your task,” Lisa said with that smug smirk of hers.

“But it’s not done,” Vlad groaned softly.

“But it’s not done,” Lisa agreed. “That doesn’t mean we can’t have a little visit, now while things are quiet.”

Vlad held her essence close to him and basked in the glory that was her shining spirit. 

If he could keep having this, then it would be worth it. Besides. Lisa was right. Vlad should be there to help their son. No doubt there would be rocky times ahead, and Adrian was still hurting.

“Thank you, Vlad,” Lisa said softly. “Thank you for helping our little boy.”

“I am deeply grateful that I was able to,” Vlad rumbled quietly back. 

Warmth and pain in equal measure filled Vlad’s heart. This was his fault. But he could at least do something to make it right. With the help of those humans who cared about Adrian so much. 

Maybe humans weren’t all bad. 

\---


End file.
